Monthly Archives: April 2016

New research suggests a key to easing the opioid withdrawal symptoms of neonatal abstinence syndrome is to ensure parents can spend plenty of time at the baby’s bedside during treatment. NAS is an increasingly common condition infants develop after opioid exposure during pregnancy, with symptoms such as tremors, intense irritability, poor feeding, vomiting, diarrhea and poor sleep. It often requires weeks of hospitalization and pharmacologic treatment.

Exposure to Bisphenol-A (BPA) may lead to reduced quality of embryos during reproduction. A new study has shown that BPA could be the cause for decreases in the frequency of implantation, pregnancy and live birth rates in couples seeking in vitro fertilization.

Medical researchers have obtained a breakthrough in identifying genes that increase the chance for mothers to have dizygotic twins. Researchers believe the findings represent a significant advance in the identification of key mechanisms controlling ovarian function and provide a greater understanding of female fertility and infertility.

The use of certain antidepressants during pregnancy can result in offspring depression by early adolescence. Using national register data from Finland, researchers found that children exposed to selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) during gestation had more chance of being diagnosed with depression after age 12, reaching a cumulative incidence of 8.2% by age 15. For children exposed to maternal psychiatric illness but no antidepressants, the incidence was 1.9%. Rates of anxiety, autism spectrum disorder (ASD), and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) diagnoses did not differ significantly between the two groups.

Even small amounts of air pollution appear to raise the risk of a condition in pregnant women linked to premature births and lifelong neurological and respiratory disorders in their children, new research suggests.

New research has uncovered cellular pathways in skin pigment cells that are activated by estrogen and progesterone, and also identified synthetic hormone derivatives that specifically influence the pigment producing pathway. Together, the findings provide critical information that could lead to the development of new products that change skin tone without exposure to UV radiation or toxic bleaching agents.

A stunning explosion of zinc fireworks occurs when a human egg is activated by a sperm enzyme, and the size of these ‘sparks’ is a direct measure of the quality of the egg and its ability to develop into an embryo. The discovery has potential to help doctors choose the best eggs to transfer during in vitro fertilization.

For some types of autism, gastrointestinal problems may originate from the same genetic changes that lead to the behavioral and social characteristics of the condition, report researchers after having found evidence in mice.

Canada’s program that aims to prevent pregnancy in women who use the powerful acne drug isotretinoin (Accutane) is not effective, found a new study. Isotretinoin is used to treat severe acne. It can severely harm a fetus, causing craniofacial, cardiac and central nervous system defects, as well as a high likelihood of miscarriage or medical termination, report researchers.